Cuckoo Clock Terminology
Cuckoo Clocks are heirloom pieces, designed hundreds of years ago and continually produced and handed down through generations. That doesn’t always mean that everyone understands how these clocks run and differ from other wall clocks!
Here is a brief guide to the terms that we generally use to identify and describe our clocks...
Cuckoo Clock - a pendulum regulated clock that strikes the hours with a sound like a cuckoo bird and has an automated cuckoo bird that moves with each note.
One Day Clock - this cuckoo clock must be wound once a day and typically has smaller weights / pine cones.
Eight Day Clock - this larger clock, with heavier weights, only needs to be wound once a week.
Movement - The movement inside of a cuckoo clock case is completely mechanical. This mechanism type has been in use since the middle of the 18th century and is always produced in and around the Black Forest region of Germany. These are a few, best known German movement makers :
Hubert Herr
Regula
Albert Sohne
Musical Clock - this type of cuckoo clock features music that plays on each hour in addition to the cuckoo chime.